effective tax rate, 14%. those of you paying 20%, think about all of this. >> eric: we have to go. "the five." thank you for watching. see you tomorrow. ♪ ♪ >> bret: good evening. i'm bret baier. this is a fox news alert. there are certain phrases that set off flashing lights and alarm bells in political washington. now a republican senator is using one. coverup to describe obama administration actions in the wake of the attack on the u.s. mission in neighbor that left the ambassador and three others american dead. the top republican on the ticket weighed in on why president obama has not called the benghazi attack terrorism. james rosen has the top story tonight.

>> reporter: in an interview, paul ryan accused the white house not coming clean on the event surrounding the murder of ambassador to libya chrissteins and three other americans on septembe september 11. >> you think they want to -- i think they want to do their best to expect people in america not to understand what happened. we expect candor and transparency; particularly, relating to terrorism. >> president on "the view" refused to describe the event the way his aides do. >> i heard hillary clinton say it was an act of terrorism. is it? what do you say? >> we're still doing an investigation. there is no doubt that kind of weapons used, the ongoing assault, that it wasn't just a mob action. we don't have all the information yet, so we're still governmentering it. >> you want to ask that question of the president. why is he not on the same page with his own administration officials who are saying this is a terrorist attack? we'll leave it up to you to decide whether it's a coverup

or not. >> the republican lawmakers have begun questioning with increasing sharpness whether the obama administration has been speaking honestly about the benghazi attack. >> i think they are stone walling, but to me it seems like there is a coverup going on. they don't want the american people to know what happened there. >> g.o.p. skepticism cannot be attributeed solely to election year politics. fueling it in part has been the administration shifting response to the september 11 killings. most vividly on display when ambassador susan rice argued on five sunday shows the attack was a protest over anti-islam video gone amok. >> we saw the white house deploy not only ambassador rice but others on the networks throughout that last sunday. and with imparting knowledge or a vie that did not match with reality raises a lot of questions. >> they had to know there were terrorist elements involved. get real with this. >> asked about the senator's

charge of coverup instein's case, the white house deputy security advisor ben rose told reporter ace forward air force one today "we have every interest in understanding exactly what happened. precisely so we can make sure we're doing everything we can going forward to protect our diplomats." >> bret: you mentioned the now infamous sunday show rounds for ambassador rice. >> three republican members on the service green written sharply worded letter to ambassador rice saying when she went on the sunday tour, it was clear the attack in libya was a terror attack. >> bret: we will continue to follow it. thank you. two weeks after the benghazi attack they the world leaders that there is no speech justifying mindless violence.

but ties them to the anti-muslim film. calling for calm. ed henry looks at the threat to america and possibly to the president's political future when it comes to the issue of foreign policy. >> after days of anti-american violence burning all across the muslim world, iran's military today flexed its muscles unveiling a new drone they claim can stay in the air for 24 hours. fly over 1100 miles. as the tensions grow, new york city hosted two presidential nominee offering two different visions dealing with it. president obama addressed the united nations generally assembly and suggested he had little ability to shape what is happening on the ground. >> we cannot solve every problem but the united states cannot seek to dictate outcome of democratic outcomes abroad. >> barely a mile-and-a-half across the city, romney

appeared with bill clinton at the clinton initiative and accused obama sit tong sideline while mideast unravels. >> syria witnessed killing of tens of thousands. president of egypt is member of the muslim brotherhood. our ambassador to libya assassinated in terrorist attack. iran moving toward nuclear weapons capability. we somehow feel we're at the mercy of events rather than shaping events. >> the president did not call it a terrorist attack. choosing to say it's an assault, not just on america but says he understands why it -- [ inaudible ] >> home to muslims across our country. we respect the freedom of religion.

>> the president insisted his policy is not containment. >> make no mistake. nuclear armed iran is not a challenge to be contained. a coalition of countries is holding the iranian government accountable. that's why the united states will do what we must to prevent iran obtaining nuclear weapon. >> despite the threat of possible military action. the president again asked for more time to let sanctions work. although another year has passed since he used the same forum at the u.n. to demand tehran shape up. >> iranian government cannot demonstrate its program is peaceful. it has not met its obligation and it rejects offers that would provide it with the peaceful nuclear power. >> this is why israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has warned the world is running out of time. republicans blasted the president for not meeting with netanyahu or any other world leader here one-on-one. first lady had time to yuck it up on "the view." >> i brought him with me.

he had a few minutes in misschedule. >> no, i told folks i'm just supposed to be eye candy here for you guys. >> the president doesn't seem to be letting the attacks get to him. even joking with the security guard about a local profootball team on his way out of the u.n. >> president talking about the jets there. there was speculation that the president would meet with president netanyahu on friday back in washington. the white house though says there are no scheduling updates but secretary of state clinton will meet with the prime minister. bret? >> bret: ed henry in new york tonight. thank you. six week weeks from today is election day. republicans have been exhorting their candidate to do more, to say more, to get tougher on the president. carm cameron reports on how romney is doing. >> he promises prosperity and freedom worldwide, linking u.s. foreign aid to freer trade and joked about being introduced at the clinton global initiative conference by the most popular democrat

at the democrats' recent convention. >> if there is one thing we learned in the election season by the way, a few words from bill clinton can do a man a lot of good. all i got to do now is wait a few days for bounce to happen. >> amid mounting chaos overseas, romney announced plan for major attorne foreign y speech to proudly project strength and values. ♪ ♪ >> they had a rally for the battleground state of ohio where they trail in the polls. >> o-h! >> ohio! >> o-h! >> ohio! >> romney blasted the president saying the description of anti-american terrorism and violence in the middle east and north africa has bumps in the road for new leadership. >> it means develop in the the middle east these days, when we have an ambassador assassinated and we don't have a president calling the things bumps in the road swept a

president who takes it serious and gets america on track to shape world affairs. >> early voting and absentee balloting underway in half the state, romney is opening and closing his events with this pitch. >> i need you to find people who went out there and voted for obama and convince him to join our team. >> in an interview with fox news, romney and ryan both blasted the president for refusing to call the attack on the u.s. consulate in libya terrorism. when his own administration has already done so. >> it's clear that it was a terrorist act. if al-qaeda assassinates american diplomats, that is an act of terror. that's what this was. that's what has been explained by other member administration. white house doesn't want to admit it. that's what happens. it's a very troubling and disturbing development. >> i think when the president said that the developments in the middle east are like bumps in the road, he badly misunderstands the nature of what is happening in the middle east. not just the assassination of our diplomats but a muslim brotherhood leader becoming president of egypt. 20,000 people killed in syria.

development in middle east far from bumps in the road. >> de stating the military with the defense cut. equivocating when you speak overseas about these issues, it projects weakness. the adversaries have more incentive toy tack us and allies are less willing to trust us. >> ryan and romney part company and will travel separately tomorrow. but in ohio where he trails in the poll he has a new campaigner by his side. goldp bear, golfing legend and ohio native jack nicklaus will campaign with romney tomorrow. they argue that the public polls are inned a kate.

they say it's a virtual tie in the wire in ohio and across the country six weeks from tonight. bret? >> bret: 42 days. carl call ron live in ohio. thank you. home rices were up 1.2% this july compared to last year. the second straight monthly gain. after two years without one. stocks were down today. dow lost 101. s&p 500 fell 15. nasdaq gave back 43. how a disputed call at a football game is bringing political enemies together. that's later in the grapevine. up next, bringing a are you puteed terrorist back to america for justice. copd makes it hard to breathe,

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didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. >> bret: it has taken year bus a high value terror suspect and four others appear to be headed from great britain to the u.s. for justice. senior foreign affairs correspondent amy kellogg is in london and tells us what took so long.

>> egyptian born is waned for more than words in united states. he allegedly tried to set up an al-qaeda training camp in oregon. and accused involvement in deadly kidnapping in yemen. helping the taliban with logistics and funding. the courts here say he and four other british-based terror suspects should be extradited. >> there is no question that he is a dangerous man. that successive government have been trying to remove him. that's why i welcome the decision of the men who question he should be extradited to the united states. >> the holdup was they needed to determine he would not be inhumanely treated if sent to united states. he kept filing for appeals.

said to have been key aides of bin laden. in response to extra division ruling, some jihadist website called for u.k. to be punis punished. they could be on their way to states in a matter of weeks but as the story has been full of legal twists and turns, those awaiting them at the department of justice won't breathe a sigh of relief until terror suspects are wheels up. >> bret: amy, thank you. obama administration has recently made public a new list of prisoners cleared for release or transfer from the terrorist detention facility at guantanamo bay, cuba. apparently having served time there is becoming for insurgents, but having a harvard degree is for college graduates. tonight, catherine herridge reports on what some of the gitmo alumni are up to. >> sufyan bin qumu identified

his files is the leading suspect in embasssy attack. giving the detainee street credit and rock star status. there was the saudi al-shir, who went six years at guantanamo. he is now the deputy leader of al-qaeda in yemen. publicly the defense department downplays guantanamo effect. >> maybe given higher status in some terror group but not in the best position to characterize that. safe to say some of them probably do acquire some status. i'm not sure it's widespread. >> the evidence points to a joint operation between qumu group and the al-qaeda affiliate in north africa. al-shiri said his file was

detainee 372 is a tough target for c.i.a. in yemen. but of the direct involve in the the underwear bombing christmas in 2009. one in three is suspected to return to battlefield. >> the individuals that go back to the field and return to terrorism. >> leader of the taliban is also a former guantanamo bay detainee released in 2007. a federal law enforcement source tells fox there is a concern they recommit to the cause after guantanamo an bring with them understanding of how the military workers. >> bret: thank you. still ahead, while the u.s. military plans cuts, china unveils its latest military muscle. first, fine print on the bottom of the political polls can make the difference in the world. how can you get back pain relief that lasts up to 16 hours?

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>> bret: in the last six weeks before the election you will be inundated with polls. you may not pay much attention to the fine print. that is the language at the bottom of the graphic that explains who is surveyed, how many, and the margin of error. in those boxes there. well, tonight, we're going to explain how that fine print can have a major effect on numbers above it. here is correspondent shannon bream. >> i know people obviously think of polls as being forecasts. but from a professional standard, they're not. >> pollsters across the spectrum say there are limits to the information they produce. that poll simply capture a single moment in time. not predict the future. no two sample grouping are the same and there are multiple meths of interpretation. there is however across the board agreement that the 2012

electorate will be markedly different than 2008. with younger, and minority voters less enthusiastic and less likely to show up this time around. >> it's true that 2012 will be different than 2008. it's true if you try to base your 2008 models off of 2004, that wouldn't have worked either. >> reputable polling operation focus first on putting together a demographic sample that matches what we know about the u.s. population. things like gender, race, income level. once that is said, pollsters ask response dents via cell phone about which party they feel most aligned with, not the party registration. in recent week misexperts say they have been able to quantify a shift by independents in the democrats column. they have been on a roller coaster ride with president obama. initially giving him high approval ratings, but then -- >> to the depth of 2011 when they were strongly against him. now we're at a point where most unaffiliateed voters do

not approve of the president the hospitality wasn't as strong as it was a year ago. >> experts caution september polling numbers are notoriously volatile, with the october debates still to come. while the discussion continues about whether american party presence truly shifted or whether the democrats are included the recent party sampling, strategists say the g.o.p. should use the recent less than ideal numbers to their advantage. >> if i were the republicans i look at this as a big warning sign. it's 40 days out somewhere, so you have time to do something about it. if you start to deny, denying does not change the problem. >> so, what is the impact of the various poll numbers? strategists say it affects the donors' willingness to give and the volunteer's excitement about showing up to make calls and go door to door, things that could make the difference in presidential race as tight as this year's. bret? >> bret: thank you. we get a lot of e-mails on that topic. do you follow the polls? do you think they help or hurt the process. let me know on twitter.

@bretbaier. harry reid is also a mormon said he was speaking in advance of romney visit to nevada friday. the paper says other prominent mormon have thanked romney for putting the lds church a positive light. four years ago you may remember then senator obama's pastor became a lightning rod for criticism. >> god bless america. no, no no. not god bless america. god damn america. >> bret: this spring, byron york of the "washington examiner" says reverend wright said he was offered substantial sum of money by close friend of obama to stay quiet about their relationship until after the 2008 election. york reports that wright says he has been counseled not to publish his account of what happened until after this november. mark twain said there are

lies, damned lies and statistics. we will look at least with the of those three in the grapevine. and bipartisan outrage in wisconsin. after last night's packers game. ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil,

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predecessor, george bush did during that same period in office. so it's hard to argue we overregulated. >> bret: technically as much as republicans don't want to believe it, that is true. in his first three years in office, president obama administration enacted 10,883 new rules compared to president bush's 12,447. but president obama's had been far more costly. his approved 37 major rule changes. totaling $8.8 billion. president bush had nine regulations for $4.3 billion. just last week, president obama administration issued 82 new rules. that is a new regulation every two hours. so far, 2800 rules published this year, pace that increased. grapevine is in the fact checking mode, another clip from "60 minutes" and president referencing it on "the view" today. >> you made on your

investments personally about $20 million last year. you paid 14% in federal taxes. that is the capital gains rate. is that fair to the guy who makes $50,000 and paid higher rate than you did? >> at it low rate. >> you think is it fair? >> yeah. the right way to encourage economic growth. >> governor romney on "60 minutes" was asked does he think it's fair that he pays a lower tax rate than somebody making $50,000 a year? he said yes. >> bret: there is a problem with the original question and the president's answer. mitt romney's effective tax rate of more than 14% in 2011 was almost 7 points higher than that of a person making $50,000 a year. so the question's premise and what the president repeated today were not true. finally, unions have been at the center of a heated political battle in wisconsin for the last year.

but one union issue has politicians both parties in the badger state on the same page for now. football. specifically the lockout of the n.f.l. officials and replacement referees currently calling games, has sparked bipartisan disappointment. after green bay lost to seattle last night on what many feel was a blown call. republican governor scott walker tweeted, "after catching a few hours of sleep, the packers' game is still just as painful. #returntherealrefs." democratic senate senator tweeted a similar sentiment and posted roger goodell's phone number. all of it. urging disgruntled fans to call. the issue made its way to the presidential politics today as well. vice presidential nominee wisconsinite paul ryan opened up the town hall in cincinnati with criticism of the replacement refs. president obama himself told reporters a in the white house today, "it's terrible." china is taking a huge step

toward eventually challenging the u.s. for naval supremacy in the pacific. correspondent adam housley on what could be a military sea change. >> amid growing mention the earth's largest ocean, china officially launched the first ever aircraft carrier. the refurbished soviet ship now named lianee is meant to boost china combat capability and naval power around the pacific. >> china's defense budget expended around 12 to 13%. state-of-the-arted from a low base but this allowed china and the chinese military to become one of the most significant consequencial military powers. >> chinese addition comes as the united nations plans deeper military cuts. even as 2,500 american military personnel will deploy to australia to boost security in the pacific region and plans are in the works to base the u.s. ships in singapore. >> pacific theater is

incredibly important to the u.s. interests. it always has been and it always will be. >> important not just militarily. it's important economically. it's important for the future of the world, because so much is happening in the pacific rim region. if you use all of us to not just follow it and be active part of it. >> increase american part that focuses not only on protecting the vital shipping lanes but supporting asian allies that are increasingly concern with the chinese military buildup and more aggressive actions around the region. >> 80% of people live within 100 miles of a coastline. think about the coastline that is involved with the pacific rim region. 90% of world trade goes on the ocean. so this isn't just about being there for adversarial relationships, it's for the stability of the way we're ability to live in world today. >> recent weeks, u.s. military leaders acknowledged the rebalancing of forces in the pacific region, even calling it a military pivot with increasing cooperation only with the largeer allies like

japan and australia but the smaller countries like philippines, indonesia and vietnam openly looking to expand military ties with the united states. bret? >> bret: adam, thank you. the republican congressman running for senate from missouri made comments about what he called legitimate rape will be staying in the race. the deadline for todd akin to remove his name from the ballot expired about an hour ago. akin resisted calls from far and wide to withdrawal after that comment. he is facing democratic incumbent senator claire mccaskill. the president speaks to the united nations. no mention of terrorism but a firm commitment to the deadline of pulling troops out of afghanistan. we'll talk about it all with the fox all-stars, special foreign policy panel when we come back. does your phone give you all day battery life ? droid does. and does it launch apps by voice while learning your voice ? launch cab4me. droid does. keep left at the fork. does it do turn-by-turn navigation ?

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in every culture, those who love freedom for themselves must ask themselves how much they're willing to tolerate freedom for others.

that is what we saw play out in the last two weeks. a crude and disgusting video sparked outrage throughout the muslim world. >> on this, we must agree. there is no speech that justifies mindless violence. >> syria witnessed the killing of tens of thousands of people. the president of egypt is a member of the muslim brotherhood. ambassador to libya was assassinated in a terrorist attack. iran is moving toward nuclear weapons capability. we feel we're at the mercy of events rather than shaping events. >> bret: mitt romney and president obama in new york. the president speaking to the united nations general assembly today. bring in a special panel on foreign policy. steve hayes, writer for "weekly standard." welcome liz cheney, chair of keepamericasafe.com. rudy deleo nearby, senior vice president of national security

progress for center for american progress, leading liberal think thank washington. thank you for being here. let me start with you. your thoughts on the speech and the position that the president made about the middle east overall. >> i think you saw the president try to give a speech that echoed the themes of his cairo address, which was probably well received in the hall. kind of speech you can see at the-up general assembly. people nodding their heads along. he did get several different rounds of applause for comments he was making. i thought there was tension in the speech frankly. he talked at one point about the video, about the video and the crude and disgusting video, made clear that the united states government didn't have anything to do with it. this is reprisal and things we heard from the administration over the past couple of weeks. in an interview on view taped yesterday and aired today, the president said that the best way to hand the video is to marginalize that kind of speech by ignoring it. the administration campaign i would argue over the past

couple of weeks on the video in explaining what happened in the region has been based on discussion, extensive discussion of the video. so, the president spent a lot of time on video today in his speech, which i thought contradicted what he was saying in his interview with "the view." >> bret: rudy? >> you know, i think the speech that the united nations was important because the president addressed the iranian issue head on. he said that iran can't be contained, that we have to prevent them from having a nuclear weapons capability. so i think he was very clear on that. issue. i think there was an important note in his remarks where he talked about religious tolerance, not just simply the issue. but also against the christians and jews, and people of other phases. every corner of the world. including the middle east. so i think it was important because it's the general assembly of the united states. so he couldn't have been clearer in terms of addressing the iranian issue head on.

>> bret: liz, i should point out you have informally advised the romney campaign. we have want both of your expertise on foreign policy. your thoughts on the president and some of the points he made to the u.n.? >> you know, my overall sense watching the speech, it was rhetoric punctuated by moments of what could only be called delusion. he talked about the moment that we're living through the middle east now. he said this is a real period, season of progress were his words. there was no recognition at all that any peace and security many world since world war ii has come from american leadership, from the military mite. no recognition we face a threat from islamic jihad. it was a lot of what we heard him say before. i think he did have statements about iran and syria. but there is no reason i can see for people to believe it will be followed up by any action. he didn't even take the action of bothering to meet with any other world leaders frankly

while he was there. >> bret: i want to play a clip he talk about iraq and afghanistan, and the way forward. what has happened and what may happen. >> war in iraq is over. american troops have come home. we have begun a transition in afghanistan. america and our allies will end our war on schedule in 2014. al-qaeda has been weakened. usama bin laden is no more. >> bret: there was some criticism, steve, about ending a war on schedule. that you can end a war on schedule. >> yeah, the formulation doesn't make much sense frankly. there is no schedule for war. you to fight a war until you win a war or at least, you know, if you're in an administration that doesn't want to talk about winning the war, as this administration has chosen not to, at least to achieve your objective. the way he talked about it in that sense, made it sound like the timing mattered more than the outcomes. i think that is a problem if you're over there fighting. >> bret: is there a weakness here on afghanistan?

you know now that we know, rudy, that the patrols, joint patrols stopped with the afghans and clearly the attacks have increased, is ending the war on schedule the right message for the president to be saying to afghans, to the taliban, to whoever? >> i think bret, we're at the ten-year point in the war in afghanistan. it's been a nato coalition. secretary gates who served president bush and president obama was part of the dialogue at lisbon, talked about 2014 being the date of transition. and the chicago summit was consensus of the nato partners. you know, i think you work your way through the situation. and so there is a timeline for the exit of afghanistan. but equally, there is a plan for using the drones and other critical u.s. capabilities against terrorist network in

pakistan, and elsewhere. so i think you have to look at all of these potential tools coming in combination as you assess a 2014 date. >> bret: was this speech, liz, meant for domestic consumption, for the election, or is this a speech for the world to say we were with you? what was this speech? >> well, i can't manual given where we are in the election -- i can't imagine given where we are in the election cycle and what we know about the president, prioritization of his political fortunes this was meant to be a speech for the u.s. public. i think. you know, i think on the issue of afghanistan, we're now in a situation where we see a resurgent taliban. situation where we may well be walking away from a nation that will in fact be able to be a safehane for terrorists because we lead at a broken place. the notion we're ending our war on schedule. can you imagine winston church hill saying that? there is not a schedule except for a victory. there ought not be. i think the president has

shown he is very interested in heading for the exit and what that means is that american influence across the region an across the world has been diminished. >> rudy, the other question is syria. he says today that the future must not belong the dictator who masters the people. we're at, i guess, more than a year since president first called for assad to step down. people on both sides of the aisle have said when will that point be. >> yep. >> syria is important. but first, let's get back to afghanistan. we still have 69,000 nato troops in country. we have just gotten the point where we have taken the surge element and brought them home side. so, you know, it's been a measured schedule. not to the same schedule that barack was prescribed by memorandum agreement but there is still a sizable force in afghanistan that is doing their work every day to assist

in the civil transition. then a concentrated effort on the other side of the border, which is pakistan. syria is important. it's important because one of the channels -- we can go through a host of examples from iraq the somalia to what do you do after at aty rant leighs office -- tyrant leaves office? it's a painful process. we're seeing a different government in egypt and a different government in libya now. >> bret: at what point does it call for a dictator to leave? lose his power, 12 months, 13 months -- >> bret: so if we use military force and the dictator was out we'd still have all of these other humanitarian issues of transition. so i think, there, it is important for the u.s. to work in conjunction with the partners; particularly, our partner, nato partner turkey as well as the other regional

powers that come to a path forward that can end the war, civil war this syria. secretary clinton has spoken on this many times. >> bret: all right. next up, we'll continue the conversation. add politics to it. more with the president's foreign policy after this break. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing a stunning work of technology.

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i heard hillary clinton say it was an act of terrorism. is it? what do you say? >> well, we're still doing an investigation. there is no doubt that the kind of weapons that were used, that the ongoing assault, that it wasn't just a mob action. there we expect candor from the president and transparency. he continues to refuse to

acknowledge what is said by the other members of the administration. this was a terrorist attack. i can't ascribe exactly what the motives were for the president and the administration of not coming clean very early onth but as soon as they learned, that the intelligence communitybe has now indicated this was a terrorist attack. they should have acknowledged that as opposed to continuing to pretend like this was something other than that. >> bret: talking about the benghazi attack. of course, left the u.s. ambassador there in libya and three others dead. back with the panel. liz, what is the deal with this? the president not using the word "terrorism." >> he is in a tough spot. what he is trying to do is convince the american people he is effective foreign policy president, based pretty much solely on the fact that he was able to order the operation to get bin laden. he would like people to sort of think that means the danger is over, the threat is finished, but what we have seen reaffirmed in the last couple of weeks in the middle east is the resurgent al-qaeda apparently. it looks like al-qaeda was involved in the attack in

benghazi. you've got al-qaeda resurgent in the arabian peninsula. so a situation that demonstrates, in fact, that the threat is not gone, that the president's one accomplishment has not ended the war, it's difficult to admit that to the american people. i would say despite what rudy was saying about afghanistan, when the president pulls his troops out, even though the general for two full fighting seasons, pulls them out before they completed the mission, the general asked for you have a situation where once again we may create safehane for al-qaeda and the president doesn't want to admit that. >> bret: rudy, on the issue of terrorism, we have secretary clinton who says it was a terrorist act. but the president doesn't want to say that. >> well, you know, we're debating what the sound bite is. i think we have a history whether it's the cobar tower torse marines in lebanon, the u.s. military, the administration full accounting. i know i was the undersecretary of the air force when cobar towers were

hit. huge changes were made in terms of how we hand the security for the military people and diplomats. there will be a full review. all the facts will be on the table. >> bret: does it play, though? does it hurt the president politically? >> i think that you have to look at all of the things that are going on. because the president runs on his record. in the last two weeks, we have had the largest naval exercise. i think 30 countries involved in the strait of hormuz looking at how we keep that strategic link open for whatever contingency may happen. it's important to think not only day one, but day ten, but day 100. so, you know, you have to look at all of the actions. i think if you were an observer there in the strait of hormuz you saw a lot of naval power. >> steve? >> the president didn't want to be on videotape saying there is a terror attack against the u.s. interest six weeks before the presidential election.

what is interesting is the second part where he said it wasn't just a mob action. that was the administration's line, for better part of two weeks it was just a mob action that spun out of control. >> bret: started with susan rice on the sunday shows. >> she had been joined by extremist and escalated to this. now we know that there wasn't a mob action at all. so, the president is correct here this wasn't just a mob action. but the inescapable conclusion, as has been acknowledged by the secretary clinton and jay carney and others it was a terrorist attack. you have increasingly democrats who are saying on the record of course this was preplanned and premeditated. >> bret: last word, liz. how does this foreign policy play in the election? 42 days left. >> i think what people are seeing now realizing they t president's record on the economy may in fact be surpassed in terms of the negative aspects of it by the record on foreign policy. i think you can't avoid when you turn on the television an you see extent to which the region is inflamed, embassies

attack, ambassador assassinated people will focus on the issue and i hope to see the romney campaign make clore in a strong way that they are going to fight on this turfed a well. >> bret: rudy, liz, thank you very much for being here. steve, see you back as always. that's it for the panel. stay tuned to see how far the obama campaign is going to get exposure. [ feedback ] attention, well, everyone. you can now try snapshot from progressive free for 30 days.

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>> finally tonight, we've talked about how the president's appearance on "the view" sparked controversy. a little criticism from people who thought maybe he should have met with heads of state in new york at the u.n. but he also may have made other stops. >> is it me or is president obama showing up on every tv show lately? have you noticed this? he was on "the view" tomorrow. here is the story, the president has also been doing quite a bit of media appearances, all kinds of different shows. he did